No problem working with grandnephew, says Ranjit

Pradeep Sharma
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 15

Haryana’s new power and jails minister and former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal’s son Ranjit Singh sees no problem working with his grandnephew Dushyant Chautala, state’s Deputy Chief Minister and his senior in the Council of Ministers.

“I have worked with my father late Devi Lal about three decades back. I do not foresee any problem working with Dushyant this time around,” Ranjit Singh, 73-year-old Independent MLA from Rania, told The Tribune after assuming office here today.

Ranjit Singh was state’s Agriculture, Excise and Taxation and Law and Justice minister in the ministry headed by his father Devi Lal, popularly known as Tau, during 1987-90. However, he revolted in 1989 in the wake of the infamous Meham episode and when Devi Lal preferred his elder son Om Prakash Chautala over him when Devi Lal moved to Delhi.

Ranjit Singh, who was in the Congress for almost three decades except for a brief stint in the BJP, virtually remained in political oblivion. Denied Congress ticket in the 2019 Assembly poll, Ranjit Singh fought as an Independent from Rania and was first of the seven Independents to extend “unconditional” support to the BJP after the Haryana electorate threw up a hung Assembly.

Meanwhile, Ranjit Singh has set a two-month deadline for streamlining the functioning of the power department. Hinting at “zero tolerance” to corruption, Ranjit Singh asserted that redressal of people’s grievances would be state government’s priority.

Ranjit Singh’s estranged relations with his elder brother Om Prakash Chautala, who is serving a jail term in the JBT teacher recruitment scam, are well known. However, he seems to be enjoying a cosy relationship with Dushyant, who had touched his feet during his swearing-in yesterday.

Filled with nostalgia

It was a walk down memory lane for Ranjit Singh, who returned as Cabinet minister on the 8th floor of the secretariat after a long gap of about three decades. Greeting scores of well-wishers, who had come to congratulate him, Ranjit Singh could be seen looking at the corridors and row of ministers’ offices with nostalgia.